'Grey's Anatomy' boss opens Season 23 premiere, teases Dolly Parton episode, Texas spinoff and whether this could really be the season finale
SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains major spoilers for "Collide," the season 23 premiere of ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," streaming on Hulu. There's a new sheriff's office in town at Gray Sloan Memorial Hospital. In the season 23 premiere of "Grey's Anatomy," the doctors of TV's most indomitable hospital for the grand opening of a […]
SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains major spoilers for "Collide," the season 23 premiere of ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," streaming on Hulu.
There's a new sheriff's office in town at Gray Sloan Memorial Hospital.
In the Season 23 premiere of "Grey's Anatomy," the doctors of TV's most indomitable hospital gather for the grand opening of a luxurious new VIP floor. Ostensibly designed to provide wealthy patients with luxury accommodations—with private suites, high-level security, hotel-quality beds and access to private chefs—the venture is backed by Seth Norton (James Wolk), a doctor-turned-businessman who also happens to be the new head of Gary Sloan's surgery.
After the simultaneous departure of former bosses Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) and Teddy Altman (Kim Rivers) at the end of last season, longtime fans may expect another familiar face to take the helm. Instead, host Meg Marinis chose an outside company and used Norton's appointment to reflect the drastic financial sacrifices modern hospitals must make to keep their doors open to the public.
"I was really interested in the idea of a VIP floor and exploring the top floor of medicine, which has been really talked about lately. Unfortunately, the health care disparity is growing more and more, and that's something that seems very topical," Marinis tells Variety. At Gray Sloan, we have always provided VIP care for the entire hospital, but I wanted to see what this engagement would look like for our physicians.
Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), naturally, is the first doctor to express her doubts about the VIP scheme and the man who now runs the hospital where she started as an intern. "Meredith says at the end of the show, 'It's going to blow up,' so I think everyone should wait to see if it blows up," Marinis laughs. "We're going to see [Norton] at odds with some of our viewers. He was brought in for a purpose. The medical profession is for him, and that's not usually how our doctors treat their profession."
In the wide-ranging interview below, Marinis details all the personal and professional twists and turns of the premiere. addresses ongoing talk that this season of "Greez" could be the show's last amid another wave of industry-wide budget cuts — and gives an update on the status of the untitled "Greez" spinoff in West Texas, which he's developing with Shonda Rhimes.
Meredith immediately makes it clear to Seth, Catherine (Debbie Allen) and Richard (James Pickens Jr.) that she feels the hospital is now putting corporate interests ahead of the hospital's standard of care. "Grey's" has explored this friction in America's health care system before, but what new aspects of that conversation are you looking to open up this season?
I think that's the difference, because Meredith isn't just a resident now, she's a client who also owns the hospital. The risk of a hospital closing and patients losing all their doctors and patient care - that's something you have to really balance. We'll also explore what it looks like when a hospital closes. It doesn't necessarily have to be Gary Sloan, but you've seen it happen in LA, and sometimes it can happen without a second. This is something I have always been interested in. And also, who is going to take all these patients?
How much will we see of Ellen as Meredith this season? Will he continue to appear in seven episodes like in previous seasons?
We haven't confirmed that yet, but I say this every year: I want him as much as we can get him. When he's on the show, it's great for us. He has a few different projects on the side, so it just becomes a timing game at this point. We love Meredith. We will have Meredith in as many episodes as we can. We just have to respect his other projects as well.
You've told me before how you're going to stretch Meredith's arc over several episodes so that Ellen can come in and get a bunch of scenes to fit around her busy schedule. Did Ellen feel strongly about where she wanted Meredith to go this season?
100% we are already talking about creativity. I want her to feel like she has a role in the stories we're going to tell them, Meredith. He has played this character for 23 years. He often has little things he wants to talk about, but sometimes, he'll see something on the news or read about something in medicine, and he'll call me and say, "Would you consider doing this?" He is definitely a joint partner, and we try to do that. Again, it depends on the program.
Will Meredith's arc tie into this new patient (Martin Martinez) who is in the foster care system and potentially has cancer?
They will have more stories together. It's not his only arc, but yes.
Scott Speedman has already wrapped production on "R.J. Decker" Season 2, so he will likely be available to return to "Grey's" this season. Can we see Meredith and Nick's wedding on screen this season?
I will see him soon! This is what I will say.
Bailey (Chandra Wilson) realizes that she has to take something off her plate to deal with the new challenge of her major in public health, so she decides to appoint Winston (Anthony Hill) as the new director of the residence hall. How much will we see of Billy in the classroom this season?
We'll see a little bit of her at school, but it was important to me that we still see her at the hospital because what she sees in the hospital inspires her educational journey. But in part 2 we will see him in the university campus.
Now that you're looking to explore the relationship between Winston and Jules (Adelaide Kane) this season, is the added complication of Winston directly responsible for the residency program?
Well, I'm checking out some messes! Because we've made a big old mess of them. Twenty-three years ago, this storyline would have been very different, but now it's 2026. This was their fear since they started experiencing this attraction - that they couldn't be together. There is a power dynamic. To be honest, maybe they were thinking of wiping it all out, but she couldn't say no to Billy because the residence hall manager is also good for his career. So I guess they're both flawed, right? They're not making every decision the way they should, so I think we're going to see that rocky road.
At the end of last season, Tony (Jen Landon) was finally ready to take the leap and pursue a romance with Amelia (Katrina Scorsone) — until she got involved with Cas (Sophia Bush). Tony was so hurt that he felt the need to leave the state to temporarily get away from Amelia, but the two eventually reconciled and shared a warm kiss in the premiere. What did you want to convey by writing that speech, and what does the future hold for them?
If you look at the history of Amelia's character, even going back to "Private Practice," she has this tendency toward self-sabotage, and I was really interested to see some of that self-sabotage develop that she could at least acknowledge and name. He didn't intend to cheat on Tony with Cas because he wanted to. She slept with him because she was hurt and thought Tony was going back to his ex. It looked like Tony was getting back with his ex.
We're arguing in the writers' room about who was at fault here, because a lot of people are like, "Team Amelia! Tony tied her up in those last two episodes and said, 'I might go back with her.' I might not get back with him.' don't worry
Are you going to delve further into Tony's pre-Gary Sloan background? Will we meet Tony's ex-wife in this season?
In addition to her personal relationship with Tony, will Amelia deal with something new on the professional front this season?
yes It affects all doctors, but for him, there will be more story because some of our residents have to choose what area to focus on. We know there's a family connection to neurosurgery, so we'll definitely explore that between him and Lucas [Nico Treho].
Jo (Camilla Laddington) is still dealing with the near-death trauma of giving birth to her and Link's (Chris Carmack) twins midway through last season. He officially quits by the end of the premiere. It feels like a fork in the road for him in particular—and it's not entirely clear whether he'll ever be able to return to his old self after this experience.
We're not going to wrap it up in episode 2. We leave a lot of people and then come back. But his mental health scare really got to him last season. PTSD after birth trauma is something that affects many women, and I didn't want to ignore the fact that it takes time to process. So we will see this question of hers and it will affect how she chooses to raise her children. He is a fighter. This time of personal discovery will have some ups and downs. The really difficult part is that she thinks her house is the only problem right now, but there's a whole other thing coming that she doesn't know about.
You mentioned to me last season that Link is a little more traditional, in the sense that he doesn't always want to ask for help. You also mentioned that your writers' room explores addiction "in a more nuanced way than the stereotypical thing of seeing someone take a pill every five minutes." What will those more nuanced conversations about drug addiction look like in the future?
We're going to see him dig a little deeper into what's going on, and then we'll see you check those conversations right now, he's in denial, right? There are stages of addiction that affect everyone. It's a different journey for everyone, but we're really interested in telling the story of a person's performance in all areas of their life, but then there's this little secret going on. This makes it even more heartbreaking because everyone thought everything was fine at home and at work. He hides it at first, and then makes it much more painful, but it comes out.
Simone (Alexis Floyd) finds out that Gary is from Gary, or is pregnant by Lucas or Wes (Trevor Jackson). Why did you want to throw another baby into the middle of a love triangle in this program?
It takes a few episodes to open up, and that's why we told the fertility story last season. This is how we planned it, it's different in that she's just realized that she might not be able to have a baby the old way, so that adds another layer. She's definitely not ready to have a baby, but she doesn't know if this is her first time. I think a lot of women have to struggle with that. Do you put everything on pause? do you have it Or do you decide to focus on your career? And will she handle it on her own, or is she going to tell one of these people?
Did Alexis always know you were planning on getting Simon pregnant, or did you just reveal it to her when she read the book. The premiere?
I waited to tell him until the first show. Honestly, we planned it last season, then I wrote the premiere and didn't do it because everyone on social media thought we were going there, and then I lost it and put it back. So I'm as transparent a scheduler as I can be for the cast, but if I wasn't sure I didn't want him to deal with this over the summer.
Richard fired Blue (Harry Shum Jr.) at the end of last season for injecting a patient with an illegal drug, and Blue has been keeping himself busy by taking online French classes. After finding out he's suffering from a medical emergency, he goes undercover to treat his teacher at Gary Sloan, and he's clearly still itching to get back into medicine. What else has he been up to since his dismissal and what is his future?
For Blue, it's been a lot of playing video games and sitting on the couch, and he goes through various stages of shock and denial. He tries to pretend he's fine and fills his day with activities like French lessons, but in episode 2, he's not. He says he's happy being unemployed, but there's no way that character is happy not practicing medicine. It remains to be seen if she's going to sacrifice herself and move on to something else, or if she's not going to give up and try to get back in Nick Richard's good graces. Also, it's not necessarily Richard who lets her go back. Maybe there is another way…
How much will we see of Harry Shum Jr. competing on "Dancing with the Stars" this season?
I have to give Harry Shum Jr. a lot of credit. I know he's on Dancing with the Stars because I got a call and he's on my TV and I don't have him on Tuesdays. But other than that, everything is pretty normal, except when you see him practicing with Jenna Johnson offstage. He must not be asleep because he hasn't called me once to say "I need time."